


shine bright

by Darkfromday



Series: Arc-V Rare Pair Week 2018 [2]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: F/F, F/M, Masumi here: I SAW HER FIRST DWEEB, saving my fics from the tumblr monster, what tense is this even in, why is Shingo thirsty for every Ray incarnation on this show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 06:09:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16867579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkfromday/pseuds/Darkfromday
Summary: Not much makes Koutsu Masumi mad.But second-rate duelists flirting with her crush?Yeah, that qualifies.





	shine bright

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Peppermint_YGO (Peppermint_Shamrock)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peppermint_Shamrock/gifts).



> prompt day 02: "beauty"

_111 days, 16 hours, 3 minutes_.

That’s how long it’s been since the last time Masumi lost her cool, or outright laid an opponent out. As she squeezes the glittering gift in her dominant hand, she has the feeling that that hard-earned record might be reset today—no, right now.

Because Sawatari Shingo is polluting the air around Akaba Ray.

 

 

The last time Masumi had lost her temper, the world she knew had been combined with three others she  _didn’t_  know, and she’d simultaneously lost her best rival to a similar combination. The latter had braided her long, alluring two-toned hair and introduced herself as  _Ray_.

Then Masumi had smacked her across the face.

Needless to say, their relationship had nowhere to go but up, but it still took 15 days for Masumi to be caught dead in public, 10 more to force out an apology, and another 30 before she would consent to be seen anywhere  _near_  Ray.

Seventy-five days after her initial outburst, Ray had lost a duel to her and then  _smiled_  at her. Masumi’s priorities shifted that very moment to whatever would earn her more of  _that_.

 

 

And here she is now, thirty-six days later. Days where she has taken Ray to every entertainment center LDS boasts, or out to the finest dining in Maiami and beyond, or on simple walks across dimensions so she can listen to the older girl talk in relative peace and privacy. She has been trying to charm Ray, because Ray herself is so charming. She is the best of Yuzu and the other three girls she remade herself into, but she is her own self even more: funny, strong, brave, humble. And  _beautiful_. Masumi and her father have made and sold a hundred gemstones that are not as striking as the former Pro Duelist’s impeccable posture and dusk-colored hair and intensely bright eyes.

It has taken her a solid week to find and create a worthy representation of what she gets to behold every day, and the ametrine bracelet still doesn’t feel like  _enough_.

Masumi will hurl Sawatari into the sun before she lets him draw Ray’s attention away from her. He is all flash and no substance, a stone that cracks after one mallet-tap. His dueling skill even following  _interdimensional war_  is middling at best. Yes, Ray is smiling at him now, but it’s surely only to be polite.

 _Surely_.

Masumi closes the distance. She will find out now.

 

 

“—and then I swooped in, BAM!, and took the hit for Crow! His eyes lit up the second he saw my heroics—”

Ray chuckles lightly. Sawatari Shingo has what her father would derisively call  _quite the imagination_. Master of embellishment, king of brash words and swifter retreat. He’s all the more amusing because he thinks Ray  _doesn’t remember_  anything from her past lives, when she very much  _does_.

The only difference between  _then_ and  _now_  is that  _then_  she was watching a very long movie in a dark place.  _Now_  the world is bright again, and she can change what happens next in the movie anytime she likes.

“That laugh doesn’t sound encouraging…” Sawatari—pouts. He’s officially  _pouting_.

“You’ll forgive me if your tale of rescuing this ‘Crow’ sounds like it’s straight out of a comic book,” she teases. She knows it happened because Reiji has perfect memory recall and filled in any of her gaps long ago, but she can’t resist ruffling Sawatari’s feathers a little bit. Serena had enjoyed that too. And based on prior interactions, it’s much safer to needle him rather than go full-Yuzu and (threaten to) beat him up.

“Who says I’m not a hero out of a comic?” Sawatari wiggles his eyebrows. He steps a bit closer too. “Rescuing damsels is a staple. All I’m really missing is a partner.”

Ray bites her lip.

This kid’s interest in her is not subtle. Even without memories of him offering Yuzu flowers or tailing Serena’s every move it’s not. But Ray doesn’t know if he is genuinely interested in  _her_ , the completed puzzle, or in parts of who she used to be, and that’s… depressing.

It’s also not something she has to settle for. The only person Ray is sure sees her for herself, the only one who gives her just the right amount of attention and space in turns, who makes her weary heart pick up its pace in this new world is—

“ _Sawatari Shingo, get lost.”_

–-Koutsu Masumi, the one and only. She’s finally returned.

Sawatari protests, though he’s not so dumb he doesn’t do it three paces back from both Ray and the approaching thunderstorm. “I was here first, Koutsu!”

“You were not,” Masumi counters, quietly, but with the heat of the forges in those deceptively simple words. Ray is enchanted by her fierceness and by the way she looks as she closes the distance—like an avenging angel come to shield her from unholy lust. Her dark hair is a billowing crown and her pink eyes appear threateningly red. She is gorgeous and Ray can’t quite handle it.

She’s not doing her best work handling the escalating situation here, either. It’s a lot to absorb at once. No one’s ever fought for or over Ray’s affections before, nor she over anyone’s, so some of her inaction is down to shock. The rest is due to indecisiveness—the next move needs to be hers, but what will that be?

“E-Even so, Ray and I were having a nice chat before you came over—” he pauses. “—isn’t that right, Ray?”

 _Oh. That’s my cue_.

She hesitates, but only for a moment—because in the next she’s seen the tamped-down longing in Masumi’s eyes, and can’t drag things out any longer.

“We  _were_  having a nice talk but… Sawatari-san, is it all right if I rejoin Masumi now? She promised me something nice if I waited here for her.”

Sawatari’s face falls—but he recovers so quickly that Ray doesn’t feel too bad. Not for long anyway.

“Very well, I’ll catch you later,” he says gallantly just before Masumi frightens him off with a glare.

Then they’re alone together, just like that.

Ray takes advantage of the quiet by pressing closer to the other girl, speaking softly and intimately. “So. My present?”

Masumi blinks at her.

“You  _did_  say you were coming right back with something for me…”

“Oh—yes.” The young jeweler-to-be isn’t known to fumble, but she certainly does  _something_  ungainly as she unfolds one of her hands and displays—a breathtaking bracelet, obviously handmade by a pro, set with an overwhelming number of tiny gemstones colored purple and yellow and orange. Ray racks her brain and comes up with  _amethyst_ , which she quickly corrects to—

“Ametrine.”

Masumi hums a pleased affirmative. “Serene, pristine, unique. A gem of queens. It suits you. I… hope you like it.”

_**Like** it?_

Ray accepts it, brushing the other’s hand as she does. She lets their connected hands linger as she slides the bracelet on, noting Masumi’s faint blush. The gems wink at her, a gift as alluring as its giver. Of liking, there is no question.

In return for it, she lifts Masumi’s hand up so she can gift it, and her, with what will hopefully be the first kiss of many, and the end of their dancing around each other.

“I love it,” she says.

**Author's Note:**

> is refractionshipping canon yet


End file.
